It's that time of year again, for the grandiosely named DVD-screening series, the Chulalongkorn University International Film Festival.

Starting Monday, August 10, over the course of three weeks, six movies will be shown: Mad About English! from China, Waltz with Bashir from Israel, Hansel and Gretel from South Korea, You, the Living from Sweden, Time and Winds from Turkey and I've Loved You So Long from France.

Showtimes are at 5 on Monday and Friday. The movies will be shown with the original soundtracks and English subtitles. Afterward there will be a discussion (in Thai) with film critics Kittisak Suvannapokhin, Nopamat Veohong and Kong Rithdee.

Admission is free. The venue is room 503 of the Boromrajakumari Building. There's free parking next to the university auditorium. The festival is organized by the Department of Dramatic Arts, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University with support from the Cultural Centre. For more details, call (02) 218 4802 or visit http://chulafilmfest.multiply.com. Here's the schedule:

Monday, August 10 -- Mad About English!

This Singaporean-produced documentary looks at China's mad dash to learn English. Crazy vignettes in Mad About English! include 10,000 students learning English from one teacher, all at the same time, a detective whose mission impossible is to arrest bad grammar, a 74-year-old who thinks nothing of ambushing foreigners to practice his English and a Chinese policeman who speaks English with a Bronx accent.

Friday, August 14 --  Waltz With Bashir

Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman struggles to recall his service in the Israeli Army during the Lebanon War, visiting old army buddies as he pieces together his traumatic memories. The result is this colorfully animated feature that examines the hell of war in much the same way as live-action features like Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket or Saving Private Ryan. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, the images become increasingly surreal. One of the best-reviewed films of 2008, Waltz with Bashir won awards worldwide, including a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Picture and six Israeli Academy Awards. It screened at last year's World Film Festival of Bangkok.

Monday, August 17 -- Hansel and Gretel

South Korean horror combines with a fairytale in this thriller by Yim Pil-Sung in which a reckless youngster has a car accident. When Eun-soo wakes up, he meets a mysterious girl, is led to her house in the middle of the forest and finds himself trapped there. In this place where children never age, any adults who visit meet mysterious yet terrible ends, and Eun-soo finds his own demise is already drawn up.

Friday, August 21 --  You, the Living (Du levande)

Written and directed by Roy Andersson (Songs from the Second Floor), this absurdist black comedy — an exploration on the "grandeur of existence" based on an old Norse proverb, "Man is man's joy" — has many intriguing characters. An overweight woman laments her life while being completely self-absorbed. Her equally overweight boyfriend tries to comfort her and invites her to dinner. A carpenter has a dream where he is condemned and executed for breaking a 200-year-old china set while trying to perform the tablecloth trick. A psychiatrist has lost faith in people's ability to be happy because of their selfishness: nowadays he only prescribes pills. A business consultant gets his hair butchered by an upset barber before attending a meeting where the CEO dies of a heart attack. A girl finds her musical idol Micke Larsson in a tavern. He invites her and her friend for a drink, but afterwards he gives her false directions for a band rehearsal. Rug seller husband and schoolteacher wife affect their respective jobs lingering about a fight they had.

Monday, August 24 --  Time and Winds (Bes Vakit)

Reha Erdem directs this drama set in a small, poor Turkish village leaning over high rocky mountains, facing the immense sea, flanked by olive yards, where villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. Ömer, the son of the imam, wishes hopelessly for the death of his father. When he understands that wishful thinking does not have any concrete results, he begins to search for childish ways to kill his father. He shares his guilty thoughts with his friend Yakup, who is in love with his teacher. When some day he sees his father spying the teacher, he dreams, like Yakup, of killing his father. Yildiz both studies and tries to manage the household works imposed by her own mother. She tries to be a mother for her baby brother. On the other hand, she learns with irritation about the secrets of the relationship between men and women.

Friday, August 28 -- I’ve Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime)

For fifteen years, Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) has been in prison, with no contact with her family, who rejected her. After this long and brutal separation, Juliette reunites with her younger sister Léa, who takes her in, and so she begins sharing life with Luc, Léa's husband, their two young daughters, and Luc's father. A directorial debut by write Philippe Claudel, Il ya longtemps que je t’aime and won the César for Best First Film in 2009, in addition to Berlin International Film Festival’s Jury Prize. Plus, the film won BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and Kristin Scott Thomas was hailed Best Actress by European Film Award. Both the film and the actress were nominated for Golden Globes. This screened earlier this year in the Bangkok French Film Festival.